Venerable Abramius the Abbot of Mirozh, Pskov

Saint Abramius (Abraham) of Mirozh was the builder and first igumen of the Pskov Savior-Transfiguration monastery on the banks of the River Velika, where it meets the River Mirozha. The Mirozh monastery was founded in about the year 1156, in the time of Svyatopolk Mstislavich, by both St Abramius and by St Niphon, Bishop of Novgorod (April 8), a brother of the holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11).

This monastery, the most ancient in Pskov, was the first seed of monasticism transported to the Pskov soil from Kiev. On a chalice of St Niphon is inscribed: "Holy Bishop Niphon ... enthroned, he built many holy monasteries and churches with the approval of Prince Vsevolod of Pskov, and upon the death of Prince Vsevolod he came ... to Pskov and constructed ... the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and a monastery of fame and beauty, and gathered brethren and appointed an igumen."

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, when the Transfiguration cathedral was remodeled, beautiful frescoes of the twelfth century were discovered, and which now receive universal acclaim. St Niphon also built a similar church at Ladoga, dedicated to St Clement of Rome, but only the foundations have been preserved.

There is little information about the life of St Abramius, because the monastery was inside the city walls and it was often laid waste, and served as quarters for enemy soldiers.

Saint Abramius reposed on September 24, 1158. His relics lie beneath a crypt of the cathedral church, dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord, in the monastery he built.

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